Nadine - Un amore a prova di proiettile

I'm not sure where I was in 1987 when this film came out, but I saw it for the first time tonight, and I'd never heard of it. I found it highly entertaining.

Kim Basinger is Nadine, a pregnant, soon to be divorced woman living in small-town Texas in 1954. She posed for some "art studies" and wants to get them back from the sleazy photographer (Jerry Stiller) who told her that he knew Hugh Hefner. She's very insistent, so he lets her into his studio, even though he has an appointment coming, and sticks her in the back room. When he opens the door with what seems to be her file, he falls over, dead from a knife in the back. Nadine grabs her file and gets out of there. When she arrives home, the file has maps of an area of town in it. She lies to her ex-husband (Jeff Bridges) so that he will return to the studio with her; soon, they're on the run from the police - and the owner of the maps (Rip Torn).

This is a funny, fast-moving comedy with excellent performances from Bridges, Basinger, Torn, Stiller, Glenne Headley as Bridges' girlfriend, and Gwen Verdon, who plays Nadine's boss. Written and directed by Robert Benton, "Nadine" is a small film and an enjoyable one. Recommended.

This film centers on an about-to-be divorced couple (Basinger and Bridges) in the Austin of 1954, who get thrown back together when Basinger accidentally comes into possession of the state's secret plans for a new highway. Bridges steals the plans from her and figures on using the information to get rich, until the arch-hustler criminal Torn gets other ideas. It's a classic mix of romantic comedy and caper movie, with a pair of thugs working for Torn who might be straight out of Home Alone. It's not as if the plot is all that thrilling, and in truth if it had been shot in black and white and were 50 years older, it wouldn't stand out from some of Jimmy Cagney's potboilers from the 30's. But the three main actors are all terrific (especially Basinger), and we even get a brief cameo appearance by George Costanza's father (Jerry Stiller), who winds up in a way that George Costanza might have dreamed about. Recommended.

I thoroughly enjoyed this comedy caper movie set in the Deep South, and I can't understand why it has such a low average vote. Kim Basinger and Jeff Bridges play a divorced couple who team up to solve a murder mystery and end up re-igniting their relationship. The two have a good on-screen chemistry which, along with the comic-book-style humour and plot, is what makes the movie. All in all an enjoyable comedy/romance/thriller/caper/adventure affair with style and wit. 9/10

Okay, so this movie didn't do great when it came out in the late eighties. I think it was because it was set in another era. But I happen to think this is one of those movies that once you've seen it, it stays with you. The plot is predictable, the action is a little on the slow side, and it veers off funny a few times. However, that being said, Kim Basinger single handedly MAKES this movie. Don't get me wrong Jeff Bridges does a great job too, but it's Nadine that gives the movie it's spark and it's wittiest moments. Basinger is picture perfect because YES, she is beautiful, but she REALLy inhabits the dialogue and her character. She acts beautifully and really seems to be having a great time. My favorite two scenes are when Vernon and Nadine are driving to the photography studio and later when they are alone in his trailer. The scene in the car is all about dialogue and establishing who these two are to each other and it's done amazingly well in a short time. Basinger's dialect alone will make you laugh. "I don't know Vernon, she look a little on the chubby side to be Pecan Queen" and "You know me Vernon, they don't bother me, I don't bother them". She's referring to her spark plugs. I don't know why, but I LOVE her in this scene. It's just seems effortless. And the scene in his trailer, where they are too close for comfort and it starts rekindling that old flame. Chemistry is amazing in this scene, like they can barely exist near each other.

I highly recommend watching this some night, where you don't have to be up doing laundry or dusting your knick knacks. Pop some popcorn and give this one a chance.

Robert Benton wrote and directed this daffy comedy about a Texas manicurist in 1950s Austin who enlists the aid of her estranged husband to help her retrieve some sexy photographs she had taken by a unscrupulous shutterbug; swiping blueprints for a new highway instead, the bickering couple are chased by both the police and a crooked kingpin who's out for blood. Sassy talk and gumshun are the highlights of this pleasant whiff of an idea--sort of an old-fashioned throwback to the cinema's second-feature--but it runs out of steam after an hour or so. Kim Basinger gets to show off her squirrelly side which is very appealing, and Jeff Bridges is a good match for her, but the ramifications of an early murder, the contents of the file, and the plot elements with the gun-toting villains, Bridges' new girlfriend, and Basinger's secret "condition" are not immediately captivating. Didn't Benton realize that the central relationship alone was more engaging than the chases and the overlong shoot-out finale in a junkyard? He was trying for a breezy screwball effect, but this approach is only successful in setting up the story. The rest is irrelevant. ** from ****